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A despicable Southport care home boss who cheated six elderly residents out of more than £4m has had his 21-year-jail term slashed at the Court of Appeal.

David Barton senior was jailed in November 2018 for an enormous fraud after worming his way into the lives of his wealthy victims.

He 66-year-old befriended then betrayed pensioners at Barton Park Nursing Home in Oxford Road, Southport.

He was found guilty of five fraud offences, three counts of theft, false accounting and transferring criminal property after the longest trial in the history of Liverpool Crown Court - lasting more than a year.

But lawyers for Barton convinced a bench including the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett, that his sentence was "manifestly excessive" at a hearing of the Court of Appeal.

Barton Park Nursing Home in Oxford Road, Southport

Lord Burnett concluded: "This was an exceptional case involving a high level of exploitative criminality that was targeted at vulnerable elderly individuals, and it undoubtedly merited a long overall sentence of imprisonment.

"The question for us is whether the total term is manifestly excessive.

"In respectful disagreement with the experienced judge who presided over the trial, we have concluded that a total sentence of 21 years is manifestly excessive for a man of 64 years of good character when taking into account the features we have identified.

"In our view, in all the circumstances, the total term was significantly too long."

Katie Willey (right), one of the victims of David Barton Senior

The sentence was cut to 17 years, meaning Barton would likely be freed automatically on licence by early 2027, the half way point of his sentence, reports the ECHO.

Lord Burnett said that trial judge, Steven Everett, had not taken enough account of the fact that Barton's car home was run to "an "exceptionally high standard and no resident suffered any physical harm or discomfort."